Greece’s prime minister launched efforts to form a coalition government to run the country for the next four months, saying yesterday that the move is vital to securing a mammoth new debt deal and demonstrating commitment to remaining in the eurozone.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won an early-morning confidence vote in the Socialist-led parliament on a pledge that he was willing to step aside and form a cross-party caretaker government.
However, it remains unclear whether the main opposition conservatives and other parties will take part in the talks and drop a demand for an immediate general election.
Hours after winning the vote, Papandreou met with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
“Cooperation is necessary to guarantee — for Greece and for our partners — that we can honor our commitments,” Papandreou said at the start of yesterday’s hour-long meeting.
“I am concerned that a lack of cooperation could trouble how our partners see our will and desire to remain in the central core of the European Union and the euro,” he said.
Papandreou, mid way through his four-year term, was forced into the move by his austerity-weary Socialist party after he abandoned a proposal to hold a referendum on a new European debt deal.
Frustrated with Greece’s protracted political disagreements, the country’s creditors have threatened to withhold the next critical 8 billion euro (US$11 billion) loan instalment until the new debt deal is formally approved in Greece.
Greece is surviving on a 110 billion euro rescue-loan program from eurozone partners and the IMF. It is currently finalizing a second mammoth deal: To receive an additional 130 billion euro in loans and bank support, with banks agreeing to cancel 50 percent of their Greek debt.
“My immediate aim is to do everything I can to create a broad cooperation government ... I am not tied to my post,” Papandreou said.
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